LEDs

LEDs (Light Emitting Diode based lights)

The Rumor Mill
LEDs Light Emitting Diodes. Let me get this straight. These things are suppose to save the world. They last forever, use next to no electricity and are revolutionizing the Christmas decorating world. I only need to say this once. Bah Humbug! LEDs. Lousy, Expensive and for Dummies. We definitely don’t need any new fangled technology up here at the North Pole workshop. After using good old electric light bulbs for the last hundred years there’s no reason to change, especially since they’re proven to work, unlike some of the slacker elves around this place. I can buy 60 watt light…
Read More »
LED Products for the entertainment market
LED (Light Emitting Diode) technology in the professional entertainment market has been on a fast track in the entertainment industry for the last six years after originally being introduced at the 1997 LDI show (http://www.ldishow.com/) to a crowd that often yawns at unproven technology. It was then that Color Kinetics, a Boston company broke new ground by merging microprocessor control and a network address with LEDs to create and pioneer several new intelligent solid-state lighting devices. Armed with a multi-million dollar Research and Development program and patent upon patent, Color Kinetics brought the entertainment industry into the LED lighting revolution.…
Read More »
LEDs vs, incandescents
This was supposed to be easy. Determine once and for all if it’s time for all of us to switch to LED (Light Emitting Diode) Christmas lights. Almost everyone has an opinion and are more than willing to share unless it’s going to be mentioned in a magazine article, then they clam up tight. Most are quite comfortable with the tried-and-true incandescent lights and have heard enough war stories about LEDs to not make the jump. Enough! My job is to get to the bottom of the LED versus Incandescent Christmas light story and tell you what to do. Ready?…
Read More »
So many LED based Christmas lights
I’m not worried. Well, maybe a little. It’s been the oddest thing. Until this year we’ve been quite self-sufficient at the North Pole. When we needed raw material to build another line of toys we just went to the shelf and there was everything we could possibly need. I’ll admit I was on vacation in January but way too many elves stuck here in the workshop told me about all the corporate jets flying in for behind-closed-doors meetings with Santa. I just assumed the big man in red was working on some sort of grand surprise party for all us…
Read More »
Wireframe tips and tricks
It seems that these days everyone is going to the LED lights. They use so much less electricity and seem to last longer than the old-fashioned incandescent mini-lights. Unfortunately, for long time decorators changing can be costly. In many cases, there’s nothing wrong with incandescent decorations if you give them gentle, loving care. You can expect many more years of life. There are some tricks of the trade for quickly refurbishing those old wire frames that are lit in incandescent lights. The obvious fist thing to do is replace the bulbs on the wire frame. This can be fairly easily…
Read More »
LEDs are better?
One of my favorite aspects of our annual Christmas display is going outside when the crowds start to gather because I really enjoy catching the expressions on spectator’s faces. Most often people see me exit the house and start talking to me once I get to my “candy cane distribution point” across the street. The most popular question is “Wow, what’s your electricity bill like?” I should probably add an exclamation point based on how it’s often asked, but Mrs. Peck (my 5th grade English teacher) might object to that punctuation. My response is always “Actually, my bill has gone…
Read More »
LEDs facts and fiction
When Chuck Smith asked me to put together a column for PlanetChristmas magazine that was a little more on the technical side of things I was nervous at first. Would average readers want something “more technical” or would this level of detail bore them? I agreed to give it a shot, but I wanted to present technical concepts in a way that everyone could understand. I hope I’ve achieved that goal. Let’s start off with a simple statement: LEDs will save your life. Really. They will also help you all but eliminate your electric bills, find the car keys, restore…
Read More »